Basel III rules not strict enough on banks: Turner

FSA chairman Lord Adair Turner says the Basel III capital reserve rules imposed on banks are "too lenient".

He told bankers at the Mansion House last night he would have made banks set aside more capital than the 7% of risk-weighted assets the Basel Committee announced last fortnight. "If we were philosopher kings designing a banking system entirely anew for a greenfield economy, should we have set still higher capital ratios than in the Basel III regime? Yes I believe we should," Turner said. However, he added the hike in capital reserve requirements from 2% will "significantly improve the resilience of our banking systems". He also criticized banks for paying "some absurd bonuses for e...